Integrative Psychotherapy Supervision

In this DVD, Dr. John C. Norcross demonstrates and discusses how to supervise psychotherapists in systematic integration.

Integrative supervision parallels the central features of the therapeutic approach, blending multiple, evidence-based therapy methods and relationship stances to best meet the needs of the client, and simultaneously tailoring disparate supervision methods to the individual supervisee.

Multiple transdiagnostic features, such as supervisee preferences, reactance level, developmental level, and culture, enable the clinician to match supervision to the unique individual and singular context. The course of supervision is grounded in a strong relationship, empirical evidence on what works, and feedback from the supervisee.

In this program, Dr. Norcross and his supervisee (Leah Popple) engage in a supervisory session, and host Dr. Hanna Levenson interviews them about their work together, exploring the integrative approach through a discussion of highlights from their session.

Psychotherapy integration supervision is characterized by dissatisfaction with single-school approaches and a concomitant desire to look across school boundaries to see how patients can benefit from other ways of conducting psychotherapy.

Although various labels are applied to this movement — eclecticism, integration, rapprochement, prescriptive therapy, treatment matching — the goals are similar. The ultimate goal is to enhance the efficacy and applicability of psychotherapy.

Concisely put, integrative therapy tailors or customizes treatment to the individual patient and his or her singular context. Therapists do so by drawing on effective methods across theoretical schools and by systematically matching those on the basis of a multitude of diagnostic and particularly transdiagnostic patient features, such as stage of change, reactance level, culture, preferences, and coping style.

This responsiveness applies to both treatment methods and therapeutic relationships and is rooted in evidence-based practice, which integrates the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of patient characteristics, culture, and preferences.

How does integrative therapy differ from ordinary eclecticism and theoretical pluralism? In at least four ways:

• Direct research evidence of effectiveness (not anecdotal)
• Multiple diagnostic and nondiagnostic features of the patient (not simply diagnosis)
• Treatment method and therapy relationship (not only method)
• Matching across the course of therapy (not only pre-treatment)

Thus, therapists strive to create a new therapy for each patient. The result is a more efficient and efficacious therapy — one that fits both the client and the clinician.

John C. Norcross, PhD, ABPP, is professor of psychology and Distinguished University Fellow at the University of Scranton, adjunct professor of psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University, and a clinical psychologist in part-time practice.

Author of more than 300 scholarly publications, Dr. Norcross has cowritten or edited 20 books, including Psychotherapy Relationships That Work (2011); History of Psychotherapy (2011); Handbook of Psychotherapy Integration (2005); Leaving It at the Office: A Guide to Psychotherapist Self-Care (2007); Self-Help That Works (2013); Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology (2011); and Systems of Psychotherapy: A Transtheoretical Analysis (2010), now in its 8th edition.

He has served as president of APA Division 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology), APA Division 29 (Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy), and the International Society of Clinical Psychology.

Dr. Norcross is also editor of Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session and has been on the editorial boards of a dozen journals.

Among his awards are APA's Distinguished Career Contributions to Education and Training Award, Pennsylvania Professor of the Year from the Carnegie Foundation, and election to the National Academies of Practice.

An engaging teacher and clinician, Dr. Norcross has conducted workshops and lectures in 30 countries.

• Norcross, J. C. (2010). The therapeutic relationship. In B. Duncan & S. Miller (Eds.), The heart and soul of change: Delivering what works in therapy (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Norcross, J. C. (Ed.). (2011). Psychotherapy relationships that work: Evidence-based responsiveness. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Norcross, J. C., & Beutler, L. E. (2010). Integrative therapies. In R. J. Corsini & D. Wedding (Eds.), Current psychotherapies (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
• Norcross, J. C., & Goldfried, M. R. (Eds.). (2005). Handbook of psychotherapy integration (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Norcross, J. C., & Guy, J. D. (2007). Leaving it at the office: A guide to psychotherapist self-care. New York, NY: Guilford.
• Norcross, J. C., Beutler, L. E., & Levant, R. F. (Eds.). (2006). Evidence-based practices in mental health: Debate and dialogue on the fundamental questions. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Norcross, J. C., Campbell, L. M., Grohol, J. M., Santrock, J. W., Selagea, F., & Sommer, R. (2013). Self-help that works: Evidence-based resources for the public and the professional (4th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Norcross, J. C., Hogan, T. P., & Koocher, G. P. (2008). Clinician's guide to evidence-based practices: Mental health and the addictions. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Norcross, J. C., Koocher, G. P., & Garofalo, A. (2006). Discredited psychological treatments and tests: A Delphi poll. Professional Psychology: Research & Practice, 37, 515–522.
• Norcross, J. C., Krebs, P. J., & Prochaska, J. O. (2011). Stages of change. In Psychotherapy relationships that work (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Norcross, J. C., VandenBos, G. R., & Freedheim, D. K. (Eds.). (2011). History of psychotherapy: Continuity and change (2nd ed). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

APA Videos

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Supervision
  Cory F. Newman
• Competency-Based Supervision
  Carol A. Falender and Edward P. Shafranske
• Critical Events in Psychotherapy Supervision
  Nicholas Ladany
• Emotion-Focused Therapy Supervision
  Leslie S. Greenberg
• Existential–Humanistic Psychotherapy Supervision
  Kirk J. Schneider
• Feminist Therapy Supervision
  Laura S. Brown
• Relational Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Supervision
  Joan E. Sarnat

APA Books

• Supervision Essentials for a Systems Approach to Supervision
  Elizabeth L. Holloway
• Supervision Essentials for Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
  Cory F. Newman and Danielle A. Kaplan
• Supervision Essentials for Emotion-Focused Therapy
  Leslie S. Greenberg and Liliana R. Tomescu
• Supervision Essentials for Existential-Humanistic Therapy
  Orah T. Krug and Kirk J. Schneider
• Supervision Essentials for the Critical Events in Psychotherapy Supervision Model
  Nicholas Ladany, Myrna L. Friedlander, and Mary Lee Nelson
• Supervision Essentials for the Feminist Psychotherapy Model of Supervision
  Laura S. Brown
• Supervision Essentials for the Integrative Developmental Model
  Brian W. McNeill and Cal D. Stoltenberg

• Supervision Essentials for Integrative Psychotherapy
  

  This book presents integrative supervision applicable to integrative and single-system psychotherapy alike.